We have had some existential problems in Luang Prabang, some little difficulties with time and space.
Take the problem with time. Apparently this is a well known one here. Where does all the time go? We have been in LP since the 19th Dec, but it really doesn't feel like it. I can believe a week, we have done a few things after all; but almost 3 weeks??? The days are best described as languid, but tranquil could equally be applied. 'Ideal' also springs to mind. The upshot is that we are almost at the end of our Laos visa. I strongly suspect it will get renewed.
The other, allied, problem was one of space. We booked into our guesthouse until the 29th but after experiencing the above time-related paradox, we found ourselves running out of accommodation over New Year.
Luang Prabang is a very small town. It has a lot of guesthouses, but it also has a lot of visitors. Many times we saw, at our own guesthouse and others, people being turned away, and signs saying 'Full'. Luck, of the Andy variety, was definately on our side.
He got chatting to a Japanese lady, Sachiko, who turned into a very interesting and amusing friend over a few days here. We explained our predicament, and she arranged, with almost no effort on our part, for us to stay in her extremely nice and reasonable priced room with balcony in the centre of LP, while she was away for New Year in Thailand.
If only I had known at school that physics problems could be so fluently resolved!